As I've said many times before, past is prologue. Remember back in 1993 when Hillary Clinton attempted her government takeover of the nation's healthcare system? She failed miserably. But in watching the Obama administration's healthcare reform pressure campaign, it is clear that not only is Obama pushing Hillary-style government-run healthcare, he has also resorted to the same low-ball tactics used by Hillary in 1993.

In the last few months, the Obama administration refused to turn over a list (http://www.salon.com/politics/war_room/2009/07/22/citizens/) of health industry officials who visited the White House, spread disinformation on his proposed plan and mobilized a mob of minions (http://www.politico.com/blogs/bensmith/0809/Fight_The_Smears_Health_Care_edition.html) to attack opponents of his healthcare plan under the ironic moniker "fight the smears."

Does any of this sound familiar to you? It does to me.

In July 2008, Judicial Watch released documents obtained from the Clinton Presidential Library related to Hillary Clinton's healthcare campaign. Check out just a few examples:

A June 18, 1993, internal Memorandum (http://www.judicialwatch.org/files/2007/0108HRCHealthcareCritique_0.pdf) entitled, "A Critique of Our Plan," authored by someone with the initials "P.S.," makes the startling admission that critics of Hillary's health care reform plan were correct: "I can think of parallels in wartime, but I have trouble coming up with a precedent in our peacetime history for such broad and centralized control over a sector of the economy...Is the public really ready for this?... none of us knows whether we can make it work well or at all..." (Some guessed (http://headland.blogspot.com/2008/01/hillarys-task-force-schemes-ps-who-is.html) that the author of this memo is Paul Starr, who served as head of Hillary's Health Care Task Force staff.)
A "Confidential" May 26, 1993, Memorandum (http://www.judicialwatch.org/files/2007/0108HRCHealthcareRockefeller_0.pdf) from Senator Jay Rockefeller (D-WV) to Hillary Clinton entitled, "Health Care Reform Communications," which criticizes the Task Force as a "secret cabal of Washington policy ‘wonks'" that has engaged in "choking off information" from the public regarding health care reform. The memorandum suggests that Hillary Clinton "use classic opposition research" to attack those who were excluded by the Clinton Administration from Task Force deliberations and to "expose lifestyles, tactics and motives of lobbyists" in order to deflect criticism. Senator Rockefeller also suggested news organizations "are anxious and willing to receive guidance [from the Clinton Administration] on how to time and shape their [news] coverage."
A February 5, 1993, Draft Memorandum (http://www.judicialwatch.org/files/2007/0108HRCHealthcarePublicLiaison_0.pdf) from Alexis Herman and Mike Lux detailing the Office of Public Liaison's plan for the health care reform campaign. The memorandum notes the development of an "interest group data base" detailing whether organizations "support(ed) us in the election." The database would also track personal information about interest group leaders, such as their home phone numbers, addresses, "biographies, analysis of credibility in the media, and known relationships with Congresspeople."

Lies, smears, and secrecy. All of these were hallmarks of Hillary Clinton's efforts in 1993. Obama hired many a Clinton hack to work in his White House (such as Rahm Emanuel). So it is no surprise that the Clinton gang's despicable tactics (some of which may be illegal) are being used by the Obama administration in their aggressive drive for socialized healthcare.